Should commercial airboat tours be permitted within the Alaska Bald Eagle Preserve?

The question is going to the preserve’s advisory committee Friday, following action by the state this summer to put brakes on the proposal. 

Chilkoot Lake Tours owner Shane Horton is proposing to run 18 trips per night on a two-mile Chilkat River loop near 13 Mile, using the boats that are powered by an airplane-sized propeller. 

Horton maintains the boat would be less noisy than planes taking off from Chilkat Lake airstrip or a snowmachine crossing the river flats and questions whether the state can reject his permit, having approved others. 

His current boat is equipped with a car engine with twin mufflers, but if tours prosper he’ll buy new, quieter boats, Horton said. In addition, a thick stand of cottonwoods muffles noise at the site. “An airboat is quieter than most planes but a little more sustained.” 

Horton, who runs pontoon-boat tours on Chilkoot Lake,said his idea is to create a shorter, less expensive shore excursion. “I want to do something different. I don’t want to do big groups. I want to do little groups. Lots of little groups.” 

He said he would start with only eight or nine trips per evening, but also said he would try to get “as many as I could get – that’s the name of the game.” 

Thirteen Mile is a picnicking and subsistence fishing site, but Horton said he’d work around those activities. “Tests through this summer showed most of the eagles, swans and ducks just sat there and watched us go by. The displacement that did occur was very minor.” 

The state Division of Parks, which manages the eagle preserve and denied the permit, has indicated it may be more agreeable if the proposal gets the council’s support. 

“Noise is an issue (but) it’s not our only concern. New commercial use that significantly increases the level of motorized activity that displaces or impacts existing, traditional use is also a concern,” regional parks director Bill Garry wrote to Horton on June 27. 

If the council determines an additional motorized tour won’t impact the purpose of the preserve as created and won’t significantly displace existing uses, there are probably ways to mitigate noise from airboats, he wrote. 

At last week’s meeting of the advisory council, Garry expounded on why the permit was denied. “It was our belief that this tour in this particular spot would have been a significant change to the preserve’s existing use patterns.” 

In addition, there’s little room at 13 Mile, a small area that’s flooded much of the year. “If the council feels there’s no limit on the number of people you can put on the Chilkat River, we have a different idea,” Garry said. 

Garry also called on the advisory council to update sections of the preserve’s management plan dealing with commercial use. “The commercial use component of the eagle preserve plan is nonexistent because, basically, this didn’t exist in 1985.”

This is an area where no tours have been before… I think we’d see a real concern about commercial tours in the eagle preserve,” Garry said. 

“Advisory council members expressed frustration that the state hadn’t advertised Gorton’s permit application, which would have prompted public discussion of the proposal previous to Friday’s meeting. 

That other tours have been permitted without such scrutiny was a good argument for granting the permit, councilors seemed to agree. 

They also agreed with GArry’ statement that the preserve management plan needs updating about commercial tours. 

Eagle researcher Angie Hodgson said there are one or two eagles next in the area. “It’s not so much that they take off when boats go by as it is, ‘Do boats deny access to birds who want to get down to the river (to forage)?’”

There’s also a question of increased boat traffic discouraging moose and bears from using the area, she said. 

Charles Paddock, who represents the Chilkoot Indian Association, voted to recommend granting the permit, although he expressed reservations. “I feel we’re impacting, to a certain extent, our subsistence and traditional use.” 

Borough representative Jan Hill said until limits are put on commercial tours in the preserve, she’d recommend granting the permit and placing a moratorium on future permits until necessary planning takes place. 

Haines forester Roy Josephson also recommended approval. 

Lynn Canal observation representative Tim Shields, however, abstained saying before voting on the issue he wanted to see if the state would impose a moratorium to allow for planning. Norm Blank, Bill Garry and Randy Erickson also abstained. 

After a vote to support the permit failed, the group agreed to meet again at 9 am. Friday at the council chambers to allow Garry to get information from the attorney general’s office on whether a moratorium could be imposed.